Study shows slime molds have spatial memory

Biology researchers from the University of Sydney, working with colleagues from Paul Sabatier Université in Toulouse have found that the brainless slime mold Physarum polycephalum, is able to use its slime trail as a memory device. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describe how they used a baited trap to test the molds' ability to navigate around an obstacle both when able to use its trail as a guide, and when its trail was disguised, to uncover how the mold uses the trail as a memory device.